‘Which Brings Me to You’ (2024) Review: A Romance that Slowly Fizzles Out
Peter Hutchings’ Which Brings Me to You begins with two romantically messy Will (Nat Wolff) and Jane (Lucy Hale) in a heated embrace inside a coat room. The film is an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Julianna Baggott and Steve Almond. Over one day, Will and Jane make a series of confessions about their past relationship and experiences as a way to get to know each other — the good and the bad.
Will and Jane meet each other for the first time at a wedding. She teases him for arriving late to the wedding, and then she suggests a new proposition: have sex in the closet. Will enthusiastically accepts the offer but changes his mind and suggests they get to know each other. Jane is humiliated and wants nothing to do with him, and just as she is about to leave, Will launches into an embarrassing story about his first heartbreak and sexual encounter. It’s awkward, but Jane listens and opens up about her relationships. For the next 24 hours, Will and Jane recount their embarrassing romantic history.
Which Brings Me to You reveals the intimate moments of sharing memories with someone. It shows how much they’ve changed over the years and the lessons they took from it. From hurtful relationships to ghosting their significant others, Will and Jane may or may not have entirely changed. Each memory holds a significant change to their character growth.
A visual element that stands out in Which Brings Me to You is how Hutchings reveals the memories to the audience. As the characters describe their relationship with each other, at a pivotal moment, one of the characters physically enters the memory. One character is in the memory, while the other in the present timeline joins them in the past. It’s an interesting visual technique that shows how two different timelines interject. In these scenes, Will and Jane confront their mistakes and ask questions about them to their former selves.
Every memory reveals their innermost thoughts and personal experiences. Some memories aren’t the best, but Will and Jane trust each other to tell these stories. Jane, in particular, is attracted to broken men. Will avoids relationships by leaving them. Throughout the movie, these patterns keep emerging. Perhaps a downside of Which Brings Me to You is that audiences know nothing about the characters outside these relationships. Hutchings mainly focuses on their failed relationships and interjecting visuals. When one break-up ends, it jumps to the next one without leaving an emotional impact to understand the central characters. This doesn’t help the pacing, which could have been structured coherently if their relationships were fleshed out properly to give Will and Jane the space to discuss it.
Which Brings Me to You is, at best, a forgettable romantic comedy with shallow main characters who repeat the same mistakes in every relationship. The only memorable part of the movie is ‘It Had to Be You,’ but only works when Rob Reiner adds that song to his movies. Wolff and Hale have decent chemistry together, but it fizzles out. What started as a charming romantic meet-cute turns into a big red flag, especially during the coat room scene, and that should have been more reason for Jane to run away.
Here are some reading materials to learn about the genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine and the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) movement:
Books about Palestine on Verso Books
Books about Palestine on Haymarket Books
